# heavy metal
## English
### Etymology

According to the Oxford World's Classics edition of Anthony Trollope's Rachel Ray (1863), "big guns," as on a warship. The origin of the music genre sense is often disputed; it was used by William S. Burroughs in Soft Machine and Nova Express and various music critics claim to have coined it: Sandy Pearlman, Lester Bangs and Mike Saunders.

### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /ˈhɛv.i ˌmɛt.əl/
* Audio (General American):(file)

### Noun

heavy metal (countable and uncountable, plural heavy metals)
* (sciences, countable) Any metal that has a specific gravity greater than about 5, especially one, such as lead, that is poisonous and may be a hazard in the environment. (There are many different definitions of what counts as a heavy metal; see Heavy metals for a discussion.)
* (music, uncountable) A genre descended from rock music, characterized by the use of emphatic drumbeats, highly amplified distortion, and overall loudness; often featuring extended instrumental solos and powerful vocals.
    Synonym: metal
* (uncountable) guns or shot of large size.
* (uncountable, figurative) Great influence or power.

#### Hyponyms

* (genre of music):
* alternative metal
* blackgaze
* black metal
* Celtic metal
* Christian metal
* deathcore
* death metal
* djent
* doom metal
* drone metal
* electronicore
* extreme metal
* folk metal
* funeral doom
* funk metal
* glam metal
* gothic metal
* grindcore
* groove metal
* industrial metal
* kawaii metal
* mathcore
* melodic metal
* metalcore
* neoclassical metal
* nu metal
* pagan metal
* pirate metal
* post-metal
* power metal
* progressive metal
* sludge metal
* speed metal
* stoner metal
* symphonic metal
* thrash metal
* Viking metal

#### Derived terms

* heavy metal umlaut

#### Translations
### See also

* acid rock

### References

* ↑ Sandy Pearlman (1968) “Review of the Byrds song “Artificial Energy””, in Crawdaddy
* ↑ Mike Saunders (1970 November 12) “Review of Humble Pie's As Safe As Yesterday Is”, in Rolling Stone
* ↑ William Phillips, Brian Cogan (2009) Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 3

### Further reading

Wikiquote
* Heavy metals on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Heavy metal music on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from English heavy metal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌɦɛ.vi ˈmɛ.təl/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: hea‧vy me‧tal

### Noun

heavy metal m (uncountable)
* (music) heavy metal

## Italian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.

### Noun

heavy metal m (uncountable)
* (music) heavy metal
    Synonym: metal

#### Related terms

* metallaro

## Polish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈxɛ.vi ˈmɛ.tal/
* Audio:(file)
* Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]

### Noun

heavy metal m inan (related adjective heavymetalowy)
* heavy metal (style of music)

#### Derived terms

* heavymetalowiec

#### Related terms

* heavymetalowo

### Further reading

* heavy metal I in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* heavy metal II in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* heavy metal in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʁɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taw/ [ˈhɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taʊ̯]
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʁɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taw/ [ˈhɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taʊ̯]
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ˈʁɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taw/ [ˈχɛ.vi ˈmɛ.taʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɛ.vi ˈmɛ.tɐl/ [ˈɛ.vi ˈmɛ.tɐɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɛ.vi ˈmɛ.tɐl/ [ˈɛ.vi ˈmɛ.tɐɫ]
** (Northern Portugal) IPA: /ˈɛ.bi ˈmɛ.tɐl/ [ˈɛ.βi ˈmɛ.tɐɫ]

### Noun

heavy metal m (uncountable)
* (music) heavy metal (genre of rock music)
    Synonyms: metal, (Brazil, dated) rock pauleira

#### Related terms

* metaleiro

## Romanian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.

### Noun

heavy metal n (uncountable)
* heavy metal

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌxebi meˈtal/ [ˌxe.β̞i meˈt̪al]

### Noun

heavy metal m (uncountable)
* heavy metal (genre of music)
    Synonym: rock pesado

#### Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

### Further reading

* “heavy metal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Swedish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English heavy metal.

### Noun

heavy metal c
* (music) heavy metal
    Synonym: hårdrock

### References

* heavy metal in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* heavy metal in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)